Apart from the slight decal silvering I haven't done a bad job on this one. What really sets it off is the extra effort I went to on the missiles, using all the decals available and a dash of panel line fluid. This one was my first successful attempt at panel line pre-shading which I'm quite pleased with. I learned a lot on this build.
The kit itself isn't bad. The canopy comes with a thick seam running right up the middle. I sent off for a new one and to their credit they did send one but it had exactly the same problem so I ended up spending a small fortune on scratch removal fluids and sanded it off. It buffed up ok. I'm not entirely sure but I think this hit is an adaptation of the single seater kit in that the E variant bits seem like an after thought. The conformal fuel tanks, if memory serves, don't have anything like locator pins and they don't align well, and though there are guide points on the fuselage to fit the long bomb rails, they don't fit and the instructions are incomprehensible. I had to take a best guess.
This effort pictured is actually a refurb job as this was done over a year ago when I was still learning airbrush basics. It has since had the Mr Muscle treatment and has subsequently lost the cockpit detail (not that it was any good). A year ago I didn't really bother with the cockpit because if the outside was going to look bad then what does it matter about the inside. I had a certain (accurate) fatalism about my abilities last year. Since then I put the effort into the cockpit because there's more than a fifty-fifty chance of doing a decent job.
As it happens I will be revisiting this one again. This was the kit which persuaded me to buy some of the specialist metal colours for the exhaust panel area. I need to properly research it before diving in though.
If you're after an F15E this is probably as good as kits get. Notwithstanding the faults I mentioned, the rest of the kit is fine. The exhaust pots are a bit fiddly but not really a show stopper. If you're at all hesitant about repairing the canopy issue then I advise looking for a different kit but it's a skill you'll have to develop eventually. As it happens, the scratch remover fluid I have is a good general product to have around the house so it's worth the investment.
Other than that, there's not much to say about this aircraft not least because the F15E, though very sexy, is also really boring. It's a good testbed for more advanced painting techniques but it will do little to liven up your model shelf. You can have it in any colour so long as it's grey.
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